by Mike "von Krarr" Kovacs

  Continuing inbound toward the push point a SA-13 spike appeared on my RWR. I locked it up in the HTS screen and ordered the second element to attack it while I acted as bait. HARMs on target. Cowboy13 scored a hit, cowboy14 missed, possibly because it was already destroyed. Upon reaching the pushpoint each flight member asked for permission to engage in succession.

When I gave the order "weapons free" they fired all of their HARMs. Cowboy 12 & 14 didn't score any hits, cowboy 13 took out another radar. Not perfect, but wingmen rarely used HARMs properly before version 1.08.

While my wingmen were taking care of the SAM radars I was busily finding my target. I designated it with the targeting pod and gave the order "attack my target" to the flight. Each flight member engaged the target area and dropped the GBU-24Bs. "Paveway" was called when dropped and wingmen confirmed if they hit the target. Very nice! The results: 3 hits out of six for the AI. Not bad considering I dropped first and destroyed most of the targets in the area.

Figure 5

After the bombs detonated we really stirred-up a hornet's nest of activity (figure 5)! In the ensuing mayhem of SAMs and a BVR dogfight with enemy MiG-29 and Su-27 cowboy 12 and 14 were both destroyed. Cowboy 12 got a BVR kill on a MiG-29 as ordered. I finished-off the remaing air threats so that Cowboy 13 and myself could head "out of dodge" before the enemy F-16Cs engaged with AIM-120s. See the debriefing (figure 6 top right) for details. Note that although I landed I was listed MIA.

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Figure 6

I have never survived that mission before in a single player game. Two factors seem to be at play. The wingman AI is vastly improved, although still not perfect. The second factor seems to be the SAM missiles themselves. Beaming the missile with jamming, chaff and flares seems to be much more effective than ever before.

They are still not to be trifled with but they are no longer the super SAMs of previous versions. Many SAM launches appear to be ballistic with no guidance adding to the realism. Some may find the game too easy now but I was always of the opinion that the SAMs were just too deadly.

In the next installment I intend to cover terrain masking and the campaign. Particularly, I wish to address the supply and repair problems known to exist in previous versions. Wingman AI will be scrutinized further according to the various types of ordinance used.

Go to Part II

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